


Reconciliation

by st_mick



Series: Niffler [18]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: All Is Not As It Seems, Clearing the air, Family can be complicated, Ianto's Taid shows up, M/M, mentions of Grindelwald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 04:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18613009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: Having heard the rumors that the wizard assigned to Torchwood is either quite powerful or little better than a squib, Theodophilus Jones decides to see for himself, so he can decide which it is.  But bribing the location of Torchwood out of a Ministry official is one thing; showing up at the hub unannounced is another thing, entirely.  During the inevitable confrontation, an offhand remark from Ianto regarding his father begins a dialogue, and the opportunity for reconciliation presents itself.Then all hell breaks loose.  Because, you know.  It's Torchwood.





	Reconciliation

Several weeks had passed, and things were slowly returning to normal at Torchwood Three.  Well, a new normal was settling in, as Jack continued to quietly mourn his brother and everyone adjusted to the blossoming relationship between Jack and Ianto. 

Gwen had taken the news of what had happened, as well as the side-effects of Toshiko’s and Owen’s exposure to the vortex energy released from Jack, with a strange sort of annoyed resignation.  It wasn’t that she wanted to live forever; but nor was she eager to be left behind.  She felt as though the rest of the team was poised for a grand adventure, and she was going to be left out.

The others mostly understood her upset, but her moods were beginning to wear thin.  Jack was inclined to send her home to Rhys, but Ianto pointed out that not being with the team would very likely make her feel even more left out.  They resolved to muddle through, and Ianto ordered extra chocolate. 

It was a Saturday morning and Ianto had just brought a file up to Tosh when he heard a familiar popping noise.  He turned to the walkway by the water tower and froze.

_JACK!  Get someone from the Ministry here, now!_

He stared at the stately older gentleman standing before him.  “This is a secure facility.”

“Clearly, it is not,” came the arrogant response as Jack raced out of his office, a galleon in his hand.  “Why, a few simple wards could have prevented my entry.  I see you’re not much more useful than your father.”

Ianto raised his chin defiantly as he felt the eyes of his teammates track from the older gentleman to himself.  “We deliberately refrain from warding the hub, because some witches and wizards are welcome.  You, however, are not.  I suggest you leave, or I will be forced to take action.”

“Take action?” the old wizard scoffed.  “You will respect your elders, pup, or taste the sting of my displeasure.”

“Ianto?” Jack asked.

Ianto’s eyes narrowed.  “How did you find this place?”

“Oh, I still have friends in the Ministry.  And I have been hearing such rumors that I simply had to come discover for myself whether they were true.”

Ianto withdrew his wand.  “You are trespassing.  You will answer my question, or I will obtain the answer.  How did you find this place?” Ianto’s voice was unyielding.  Jack would have been turned on, were it not for the mask that told him his lover was deeply unnerved by this wizard’s presence.

The wizard laughed mockingly.  “You are more than welcome to try.  But you should know, you have come by your skills as an Occlumens honestly.”  He gave a condescending smile.

The smile faded as Ianto’s eyes gave a golden flash.

“What did you just do?” he demanded, the arrogant mask slipping.

In the next instant, Harry apparated into the hub.  Ianto turned to him.  “Security breach at the ministry.  Wolverton disclosed the location of Torchwood to this… _civilian_ , who has decided to show up, uninvited.  Can you take him?”

Harry looked from Ianto to the old wizard, and his eyes went wide.  “You want me to detain him?”

“I want you to take him, _obliviate_ the location of Torchwood from his memory, and send him on his way,” Ianto said angrily.  He stretched out his wand, and ropes flew at the old wizard, taking him by surprise as they bound him tightly.  A disarming spell had his wand flying into Ianto’s hand, and he handed it to Harry.

“Nif,” Harry said, his voice surprised and a bit uncomfortable.

Ianto turned to face Harry.  “I do not mind that Dumbledore’s Army knows the location of the hub.  I do not object to the Order knowing.”  He ignored the old man’s scoff.  “But when people who I do not know, who I do not _trust_ just show up, that is a problem.  This is meant to be a secret facility.  The Ministry is not meant to disclose its location, and civilians are certainly not invited to apparate, unannounced and uninvited.”  Ianto was angry and not bothering to hide it. 

Harry backed up, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender as Ianto went on to recite specific Ministry code sections that proved the law was on his side.  “I will not have my team endangered because someone waved the right number of galleons in front of a corrupt Ministry minion,” he seethed.

Jack was definitely turned on.

“I’ll take care of Wolverton, Nif,” Harry assure him.  “Of course, you are right.  Security should be your top priority.  But,” he looked at the old man again.  “Are you sure you want me to arrest your grandfather?”

The only sound came from the water dripping from the tower as Harry’s bombshell sank in. 

“Ianto?” Jack came to stand by him.  He looked at the old wizard and was surprised to see a distinguished old gentleman staring back at him, standing tall despite his bindings, and sizing him up.  There was very little family resemblance to be seen in the arrogant stance of the old man.  He decided to have a bit of fun.  “Captain Jack Harkness, at your service,” he smiled, his hands in his pockets.

Ianto wasn’t sure whether to groan in frustration or laugh at the look of outrage on his grandfather’s face.  He decided that humor was the better route to take, if only because it was the one not chosen by the arrogant wizard now sneering at Jack.

“Theodophilus Jones.  Forgive me if I don’t shake hands,” he snarked.

Ah.  Jack saw the resemblance, now.  Same smart arse.  “Any reason you couldn’t contact your kin in a more traditional, less threatening to national security kind of way?”

“There was a brief rumor of a very powerful wizard assigned to Torchwood.  Since I knew Ifan was the Ministry wizard assigned to Torchwood, naturally I was curious.  But then almost immediately the rumor had been squelched, replaced by another, claiming he was little better than a squib, and that’s why he was consigned to mediocrity in a muggle agency.”  He smiled as he watched Jack bristle.

“You’ve shown little enough interest in me through the years,” Ianto said.  “Why bother now?  Unless you hoped to somehow capitalize on any power you might discover.”  He was relieved that he had used his wand to perform the two spells, which were simplistic enough not to give anything away.  Only the legilimency could expose him in any way, but even that might be downplayed.

“It is you who have forsaken your bloodline, boy,” the old man groused.

“Yes, because having the magic beaten out of me didn’t work any better for my tad than trying to beat it into him worked for you,” Ianto replied hotly.

“What?” Theodophilus Jones paled, his shock apparent.

“Ianto,” Jack said, laying a hand on his lover’s arm.  He had seen the change in Jones’ demeanor.  No one was that good an actor.

“I never lay a finger on my boy,” Jones declared quietly as he drew himself up tall.  Then he hesitated.  “No, that’s not true.  I wrenched him by the arm and swung him into a wall when he was twelve and I caught him plucking the feathers from the family owl, just to hear her scream.”

Ianto blinked, suddenly uncertain.  Sensing his hesitation, Jones added, “I would not lie about such a thing.  Use your legilimency, Ifan.  If we are to have this distance between us, let it not be for this reason, at least.”

Ianto’s eyes flashed golden, once more. 

Theodophilus Jones frowned.  “What is that?  You are not using your wand, and your eyes…”

Ianto turned away.

 _He’s not lying, is he?_   Jack asked.

Ianto shook his head.  “I don’t understand,” Ianto said.  “I had made peace with the way he was.  Thought he was just bitter because he was a squib, and I was not.”

“That is still the heart of the matter,” Jones replied quietly.  “He hated his mother, may she rest in peace, and me for our magic.  He was a cruel child, and the owl was not the only member of the household to know this.  We had to order the house elves to stay away from him.  But he seemed to settle down, once he met Glenda.”

Ianto had not turned back to face his grandfather.  Jack placed a hand on his shoulder as the elder Jones continued.  “I don’t imagine it comes as a comfort that they were happy, your parents and Rhiannon.  Three squibs who had accepted their fate.  I knew he lost the plot when you came along and began to show your magic, but I swear to you, Ifan… Had I known that he had become violent with you, I would have come and taken you away.”

“Why did you think he’d been sent to Providence Park for four months?” Ianto asked, his voice low and husky.  “Two of which I spent in hospital?”

The old man’s knees gave way.  Harry rushed to his side and held him up, helping him over to the sofa.  “Your mother told us that there had been an automobile accident.  You were injured, and your father suffered a breakdown.”  He looked stricken.  “I had no reason to doubt her, and Ioan seemed to believe her, as well.”  He swallowed.  “What really happened?”

Harry was standing beside the sofa.  He looked to Owen, Toshiko and Gwen, who were sitting at their desks and watching the drama unfold.  They were watching Ianto closely.  The young wizard was standing perfectly still, but Jack could feel him practically vibrating with stress.  Ianto wanted nothing more than to run away, but he held still, forcing himself to remain calm.  He focused on Jack’s hand, letting it ground him.

_Hey.  You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to._

Ianto reached up and gave Jack’s hand a grateful squeeze.  Then he took a deep breath.  “Rhi and I had been coloring.  We had colored and cut out dozens of paper butterflies.”  He smiled at the memory.  “They were so beautiful.  I wanted to see them fly.  And then suddenly, they did.”

“That was how your magic first manifested?”  Theodophilus Jones frowned.  “At four?”  What Ianto was describing was rather sophisticated, for a first spark.

Ianto nodded.  “Rhi started screaming, my mother started fussing, and…” he swallowed.  “Me tad completely lost his shit.”

“It wasn’t an automobile accident,” the elder Jones whispered.

“No.  It was a beatdown,” Ianto huffed.

“Oh, Merlin.  Why would she lie?”

“She only ever wanted us to be a family,” Ianto shrugged as if it made all the sense in the world.  Jack still had a grip on his shoulder.

“I am so sorry, Ifan.  Had Ioan and I known, we would have taken you away from them.”

Ianto nodded.  “And I’m sorry I believed what he’d said about you.”  He finally turned to face the older man, his face a bland mask, once more.  His grandfather briefly wondered what the young man had been through, to have constructed such a perfect façade.  His thoughts were interrupted when Ianto asked, “But what about the rest?”

“The rest?”

“That Tad cut off all ties after you two fought about how you declared for Voldemort during the First Wizarding War.”

“Neidr yn gorwedd!” the elder Jones spat, his face turning red.[1]

“Which part?” Ianto asked, surprised at the outburst.

“All of it.  Voldemort was a bloody menace.  Your father cut ties when I told him if he didn’t send you to Hogwarts, I would take you and hand you over to Dumbledore myself.”

“What?”

“You were almost ten.  I told him when your letter came, you could access my vault at Gringott’s.  He said you weren’t going to Hogwarts, and I assured him you were.  He finally agreed, on the condition that I have no contact with you.”

“Bastard,” Ianto gritted.  “And he knew exactly what to say to make me stay away from you.”

Theodophilus chuckled.  “No, I can’t imagine you wanting to meet anyone who had supported Voldemort, after having fought him so valiantly.”

Ianto blinked, and Jack chuckled.  When Theodophilus looked confused, Jack said, “He doesn’t see it.”

“Ah,” Theodophilus smiled fondly.  “You are the spit of your grandfather, did you know?”  He looked down at the ropes.  “Can we dispense with this, if I vow to go quietly, once we have cleared the air, a bit?”

Ianto waved his wand absently and the ropes disappeared.  Theodophilus stretched a bit, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful old pocket watch.  He opened it and held it out to Ianto.

Inside the watch was a photo of two young men, arms looped around one another’s shoulders and smiling fondly.  It was a wizarding photo, so their smiles alternated between the camera and one another.  Ianto blinked.  On the left was a young Theodophilus, looking cocky and confident.  On the right was Ianto’s Taid Cadogan.  And Theodophilus was right.  Ianto bore a striking resemblance to his maternal grandfather.

 _They were lovers._  

Jack’s idle observation from over Ianto’s shoulder almost made Ianto drop the watch.  He looked again at the way the young men were looking at one another, and he could not deny seeing a spark of something between the two.

“No doubt, your father also told you that I was a supporter of Grindelwald?”  At Ianto’s nod, he sighed.  “That I cannot deny, though I hope you will hear me out.”

“I suppose I owe you at least that much,” Ianto sighed.  “Would you like some coffee?”

“That would be very nice,” came the reply.  Jack marveled how there was no trace of the arrogant belligerence, now that the old man recognized the magnitude of the breach he was attempting to bridge and heal.

Ianto retreated for several minutes, trying to process yet another fundamental shift in his life.  He had made peace with the demons of his past and his family.  Now everything was being dug up and rearranged, and it was all he could do to keep his feet under him as his world tilted on its axis. 

Again.

As the coffee brewed, Jack wrapped his arms around him and kissed his neck.  “You all right?”

“Not sure.”

“It’s a lot to take in.  But it’s kind of good, right?”

“Good that I may still have family, after all.  But to have been manipulated and missed the opportunity until now…  I may have to go shoot something, at some point.”

Jack chuckled.  “Fair enough.  But try not to regret what’s done.  Doesn’t help.  Just decide what you’re going to do – how you’re going to move forward.”

“Thank you, Love,” Ianto turned in Jack’s arms and kissed him.

As he headed back to the others with mugs of coffee for everyone, he felt much more composed.  Jack brought a plate of biscuits, and everyone sipped their coffee with pleasure.

“That is lovely, Ifan,” Theodophilus hummed appreciatively.

“Thank you.”

Theodophilus sighed as he looked into his mug.  “I know it’s no excuse, but please understand that I was only sixteen years old when I talked Ioan into running off and portkeying to Paris with me to see Grindelwald’s rally.”  He shook his head.  “No one wants to admit that he talked the slightest bit of sense.” 

To their credit, Harry, Jack, and Ianto refrained from bristling at this declaration.  Still, Theodophilus flinched.

“He’d had a vision.  Showed us all what would happen, if the muggles were unchecked.”  He shuddered at the memory.  “Hiroshima.  Or Nagasaki, perhaps.  It…”  He sighed and looked around.  “You all have grown up, inundated with those images, but you must understand the impact of seeing such a thing, back then.  We were old enough to remember the Great War.  It was meant to be the war to end all wars.  To be told that there would be another, and that it would be so much worse…” 

He took a sip of coffee to fortify himself.  “I was outraged.  All of the righteous indignation that a sixteen year-old boy could summon.  I decided that the man made sense.  We fled when the aurors arrived to break up the rally.  We did not hear of the deaths until long after we’d returned to school.”

Toshiko blinked.  “What year was the rally?”

“Nineteen twenty-seven,” Theodophilus answered absently.

The rest of the team goggled.  That made Theodophilus Jones ninety-seven years old.  He looked like he would be about seventy… in a few years.  Ianto had told them that wizards aged more slowly, but this confirmation was amazing, nonetheless.

He sighed and continued his story.  “I became quietly involved.  Which means that I followed his movements in the papers and pored over transcripts of his speeches.  Ioan was uneasy with it all.  He was gifted with enough of the sight that he was able to see Grindelwald’s assertion that the muggles needed to be shepherded more as his intention that they be kept as livestock.  Or pets, perhaps.”

“Did you have any similar misgivings?” Ianto asked.

He shrugged.  “Most won’t admit that many in the wizarding world have a natural bias against muggles,” he said, almost apologetically.  “Most would say that muggles are not less than, though empirically, they have little to no magic, so in terms of magic, they are less than.  And while most don’t hold that lack of magic in muggles against them, it is a fundamental difference.”

Ianto noted how carefully Theodophilus was choosing his words, and he wanted none of it.  “And you?  What was your opinion?”

“I was raised to be very proud of my magical heritage.  I had little experience of muggles.”  He looked disgusted.  “So I was easily taken in.  Grindelwald was an expert at appealing to that bias.  And in the beginning, he was careful to phrase everything neutrally and inoffensively.”

He shuddered again.  “When the war broke out, it was easy enough to point to that as confirmation that he had been correct.  But the danger to committing to such a course is the difficulty in changing it.  Though things began happening as the war raged on that made me uncomfortable, I dug in my heels.  Ioan and I rowed about it more and more often, until finally…” he sighed.

“I was one of the ones to turn once Dumbledore finally moved against Grindelwald.  Perhaps had he done so earlier…  But his refusal to do so had always been one of my reasons for being intransigent.  But… by then it was too late.”

“Too late?” Ianto asked, confused.  He was surprised and relieved to hear that his grandfather had eventually rejected Grindelwald.

“I lost the love of my life, because of my stubborn refusal to hear reason,” Theodophilus said quietly.  “Coming to my senses was too little, too late.  So we both moved on.  I retreated to Cardiff to lick my wounds.  At some point, he must have moved back, as well.  Eventually, I met a very lovely woman and married her.  We had a good, comfortable life together, which is more than I could have asked for, and certainly better than I deserved.”

Ianto was speechless.  He’d had no idea that his grandfathers had known one another.  That they had been together was boggling his mind.  He felt Jack’s hand on his shoulder again, a grounding and comforting gesture.

Theodophilus looked closely at Ianto.  “When Aeron told us he was marrying Glenda Cadogan, I thought the universe was laughing at me.  But to see you, now…  That you are the ultimate product of Ioan and myself...  I find that it comforts me.”

Ianto felt all of his biases against the old man crumbling, and it was a disorientating feeling.  Nothing his father had told him about his grandfather – either of his grandfathers – had been true.  He’d long suspected that to be the case, as far as his Taid Cadogan had been concerned.  But it had never occurred to him to doubt what he had been told about his Taid Jones.  “I am sorry,” he said quietly.

“Son, in all of this, you are the only one who owes no apologies,” Theodophilus smiled sadly.  “But I am the last of your blood family.  I see you have made another for yourself, with Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix, and Torchwood.  But I hope you might be willing to reconcile with me, as well.”

Ianto had craved family for so long.  First, with his own family, who had rejected him so cruelly – his father and sister with jealousy and malice, his mother with denial and neglect.  Then came Ewan Driscoll and his crew, but they had been lost to violence.  With Dumbledore’s Army, it had finally stuck, and the Order gave him mentors and parental figures.  He shied away from the thought of what he had lost with Lisa, but then embraced his realization that Jack was his family, now.  Owen and Toshiko were as close as siblings.  But why limit family? 

Ianto nodded, not trusting his voice. 

Theodophilus cleared his throat, also affected.  “Well, then.  There’s that, sorted.”

Harry cleared his throat.  “You still want me to go after Wolverton?” he asked.

“I believe it would be a good idea,” Theodophilus answered before Ianto could consider.  “He gave up this location for far less money than I would have expected.”  He looked at Ianto.  “He does not seem especially fond of you.”

Ianto snorted.  He did not have what he would consider enemies in the world, but if his thoughts took that bent, Wolverton would be considered one.  And the wizard had enough powerful friends in the Ministry to be able to get his way, most of the time.  He was Ianto’s most vocal detractor when the whole argument regarding the rifle had come to a head.  And he had attempted to block Ianto’s application to be an auror, though Kingsley overruled him, on that.  When Canary Wharf fell, it had been Wolverton to initiate the stance that the muggles should handle their own problems. 

Ianto was uncertain what Wolverton’s problem with him was; all he knew was that the man had one.  Perhaps this latest betrayal, which reached beyond Ianto himself, was a chance to find out what the issue might be.

“I demand to know why Torchwood was exposed in such a way,” Jack said, taking the decision out of Ianto’s hands.  He grinned, and it held more malice than humor.  “And I think you should bring him here, for questioning.”

Ianto nodded.  “It’s time to see why he has this grudge against me,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, sharply.

Ianto shrugged, but Harry decided to explain.

“So these things aren’t just someone being incompetent and Shacklebolt not having the balls to take a stand?” Owen asked.

Ianto rolled his eyes.  Harry did not answer, but he did not defend the Minister, either.  Perhaps now there would be some answers.

“I’ll report to Kingsley and return,” he said.

Just as he was about to disapparate, there was another pop, and Luna was there, wide-eyed and pale.

“Luna?” Ianto rushed to her side just as her knees buckled.

She looked up at him and said, “The Earth will move.  We must try to save her,” and fainted.

Theodophilus stood as Ianto carried her over to the sofa and knelt beside it, chaffing her wrists as Owen looked her over.  Her nose was bleeding, slightly.

“I’ll go get Draco,” Harry said, but Jack reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Normally I’d be making an inappropriate comment, about making the Earth move, but if it’s about to happen, you don’t want to be in the middle of apparating somewhere.

Harry’s eyes widened, and he nodded.

In the next instant, everyone was thrown to the floor as the hub shuddered and the earth quaked.  It seemed to last for ages, though it was likely less than half a minute.  Jack was the first to his feet.  He reached out and helped Toshiko up.  “Everyone all right?”

Ianto stood, holding out a hand to his grandfather.  He and Harry helped the older gentleman to stand.  “No broken bones.  Slight loss of dignity.”  He straightened his tie.  “No change there, then.”

“The whole city must’ve felt that,” Gwen exclaimed as Owen helped her to her feet.  “The whole of South Wales!”

Tosh began typing furiously on her computer.  Ianto reached out a hand, and the ceiling became transparent, showing a sky full of planets.

“That’s just impossible,” Jack said, looking genuinely unnerved.

“A little bigger than South Wales,” Owen muttered, his voice low and rattled.

***

 

[1] Lying snake

**Author's Note:**

> So this was supposed to be a couple of paragraphs leading into Journey's End, not the other way around. JE is next up.
> 
> And it was going to be all antagonistic, with Theodophilus Jones being kind of an entitled jackass, but then it completely turned into something else. Also, I had no idea about Theodophilus and Ioan until Jack made the observation about the picture in the watch. So... there's that - they still surprise me sometimes, these characters. 
> 
> I've lifted some dialogue from the opening scenes of "The Stolen Earth".
> 
> Hope you enjoy - kudo and comment, if you do!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
